Hero
by AsylumInmateNo1
Summary: Melinda may not always get along with her big brothers, but they're always there when she needs them. Oneshot about Melinda, Chris, and a little bit of Wyatt. WARNING: MAY CONTAIN TRIGGERS, READ WITH CAUTION.


**AN: WARNING: THIS MAY CONTAIN TRIGGERS. READ WITH CAUTION.**

**Less important warning: this probably sucks because it took me forever to write it and I pictured it better than I wrote it. But here it is anyway. **

**So, I've been having my own little Piper/Leo Charmed marathon, and I started thinking about Wyatt, Chris, and Melinda, and how Melinda, as the youngest, would act having Wyatt and Chris as older siblings. **

**Then I was listening to my iPod and Ella Mae Bowen's version of 'Holding Out For a Hero' came on, the slow version, and this popped into my head.**

**It's turned into a Chris and Melinda brother-sister thing. I know the beginning is boring, but it's just to get a sense of Melinda….**

**This is disregarding the comics, which I have never read, and it is also disregarding Morality Bites, in which Melinda had Prue's power of telekinesis. Since it was an alternate reality, I'm changing her powers to match that of her mothers. However, the names of Paige's and Phoebe's kids are from the comics…via the Charmed Wiki.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of the characters, places and concepts wherein, nor do I own 'Holding Out For a Hero.'**

**Which you should really listen to when you read this, I think….**

**Go.**

* * *

Melinda Halliwell rolled her eyes at the mirror, ignoring the pounding on the bathroom door. The fifteen year old swiped the mascara wand over her lashes one last time, capping the bottle and smiling at her reflection as she reached for her lipstick.

"Mel! Hurry up; other people need to use the bathroom!" Her brother shouted through the door, knocking again.

"Wait your turn, Chris! God." She puckered at the mirror, smoothing the dark, wine red color over her lips. She jumped as Chris orbed in behind her, jerking the lipstick across her cheek.

"Crap. Chris! What the hell? I could have been naked." She grabbed a tissue and wiped at her cheek, glaring at him in the mirror.

"I closed my eyes." He reached around her for his toothbrush. "But I'm going to pee, so you might want to leave now."

"Ew. Don't you dare."

He arched a brow and slowly, deliberately, lifted the toilet seat.

"Chris!"

He waved his free hand at her with a smirk and she suddenly found herself orbing, landing outside the door.

"Hey! Mom said you can't orb me places against my will!" He didn't answer and she stomped her foot angrily, turning away with a huff. "MOM!"

* * *

She slammed the back passenger door shut, storming away. Wyatt had orbed in the front seat before she was even halfway out the door, and so she had been forced to sit next to Chris in the back, listening to her brothers talk about Paris or Prague or some P-named place that they got to visit because they could orb and the only way she'd ever see it is if she bought a plane ticket.

"Mel," she heard Chris call from behind her. She ignored him, hurrying forward and pulling out her headphones. She stuck the ear buds in her ears, leaving her brothers' voices behind her.

Tamora Mitchell was waiting at Melinda's locker, tapping away at her phone. "Kat's being a bitch this morning," she said by way of greeting. Mel pulled the buds out of her ears. "Mom said I was overreacting, but she orbed my boots out of my room without my permission, which is not cool."

"Aunt Paige didn't get mad at her?" Melinda asked, opening her locker and exchanging her books.

"Nope."

"Sounds just like my morning. Sucky." She slammed the locker shut, falling in to step beside her cousin as they made their way across the school to meet the third of their trio. They avoided Tamora's twin, Kat, as they passed, and ducked down another corridor to get past Chris and Wyatt, holding court outside of the cafeteria. Years of experience had taught the cousins that it was far easier to avoid the two boys than to be subjected to their mother-hen tendencies—"Your skirt is too short, Tamora," and "Why is Billy Morton saying he has a date with you tomorrow, Mel? You can't go out with him."

The two girls arrived at P.J.'s locker just as she closed it with a sigh. The three looked each other over, grinning. They almost matched, all three in dark jeans and tank tops varying only in color. The three already looked similar—brown hair, brown eyes—that it always amused them when they accidentally matched.

The three set off together, separating only at their respective classrooms with a promise to meet again at lunch.

Melinda dropped her tray on the table, glaring at the supposed food substance on it.

"Have we figured out what this is yet?" P.J. asked, sitting across from Mel and next to Tamora.

Tamora shook her head. "Nope. Maybe it's demonic."

Mel poked it with her plastic knife, before pushing it away. "I can't. No. I think maybe my mom has ruined us, food wise. We are now unable to eat any school crap." She looked across the room. "And of course they have Chinese food. Probably orbed in from China."

Tamora peeked back over her shoulder. "That looks so good."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "They're so annoying, and I don't want to ruin my day, so moving on. I'm going to dinner with Alex tonight." She gave them a Cheshire grin.

"You're still going out with him?" P.J. asked in a whisper. "He's 21, Mel!"

"So?"

"So," Tamora added, "you're fifteen. You don't think it's weird and creepy that he's dating a fifteen year old?"

"What are you saying?" Mel asked harshly, looking between the two of them, her smile dropping from her face.

"Well, maybe he's, you know, a warlock or a demon or something, that's all. I mean, 21 year old men don't date fifteen year old girls." P.J. bit her lip, staring at the table to avoid looking at Mel.

"So the only way a guy can be interested in me is if he's actually trying to kill me? Is that it?" She shook her head, standing up. "You guys are just jealous. But fine, whatever, I don't need you're approval. Just keep your mouths shut and don't tell my brothers." She stormed away from the table, furious.

They were just jealous. They may get to orb and see the future and use telekinesis, but she had Alex, and that was better than any stupid power.

* * *

Melinda had sulked the rest of the school day, dodging her cousins in addition to Chris, who seemed to be hovering more than usual. She had cornered Tamora immediately after school—she was the weakest of the three, the most likely to crack under her icy stare—and asked her if they had said anything to Chris, but she was vehement in her denial. He knew nothing.

She had sulked the entire way home, too, stuck in the back with Wyatt this time. She ran up to her room as soon as she got home, slamming and locking the door behind her.

She did her homework as quickly as possible, trying to get everything done before she had to begin getting ready for her date.

Finally done, she jumped in the shower, and washed off the smell of school, blow drying and styling her hair into messy curls.

Back in her bedroom, she flipped through her closet, searching for the skirt she had bought months ago on a whim.

Short, black, and pleated, it shimmied and flipped when she walked, and she was sure it would drive Alex crazy.

She tossed the skirt on her bed and scrutinized her closet for something to pair it with. She started yanking clothes off their hangers, throwing them behind her in the general direction of her bed. She ignored the faint sounds that announced orbing.

She turned when a throat cleared; eyeing the clothes covered Chris in amusement.

"Yes?"

"Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously.

"What makes you think I'm going somewhere?" she answered, crossing her arms and glaring as he picked various tops off of himself.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that half of your closet is burying me?" he tilted his head, brow arched condescendingly. "Where are you going, Mel?"

"Nowhere. I'm not going anywhere. You didn't knock, by the way, and I want you out of my room."

Chris grabbed her arm as she tried to move around him. "Tell me where you're going, Mel. You know you're not supposed to go out of school nights, or without mom's permission. Tell me or I'm telling mom."

She tore her arm from his grasp, glaring. "You wouldn't."

He sucked in a breath. "MOM!" he yelled/ "Melinda's trying to sneak out!"

"MELINDA PATRICIA HALLIWELL!" Mel winced at her full name being hollered from downstairs, and at the sound of her mother stomping her way up the stairs.

She glared at Chris, and he took a step back from the force of it.

"I'm sorry, Mellie," he started, but she interrupted him, dripping venom.

"Don't call me that, I'm not a little kid."

He looked sad and apologetic as he backed further towards the door, slowly, like she might strike if he moved too fast.

"It's for your own good," he continued. "I know about that guy, and I know you were trying to go see him. I'm sorry, but I had to."

He mom's footsteps were getting closer as she looked up at him.

"I hate you," she told him quietly, clenching her jaw and ignoring the wounded look on his face. "I hate you. Get out."

"Mel-"

"GET OUT! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Get out!"

She turned away as he walked silently out of the room, passing their mother in the hall. Piper watched her son worriedly, glancing between his retreating back and her daughter's open door, wondering what had happened between her children.

* * *

Melinda waited until her mom's footsteps has faded before slipping out of her clothes and into the skirt she had chosen earlier, grabbing a purple button blouse to go with it. She snatched up her shoes and her purse and tiptoes to the window, easing it open.

She whispered a spell to make her land on her feet and climbed out on the sill. Eyes squeezed shut, she jumped, letting out a sigh of relief when her spell worked.

She slid her shoes on and began walking—she was meeting Alex a few blocks away.

She thought back on the lecture from her mother. It had held all of the usual reprimands; Mel was sick of being asked why she wasn't, why she couldn't be, more like her brothers. But that was the inevitability of most conversations—why couldn't she be like them.

Except with Alex.

Alex didn't pressure her to be as talented as Wyatt or as inherently _good_ as Chris. And not just because he'd never met them. Alex didn't pressure her to be anybody but herself. And that was a heady, addictive feeling—being allowed to just be herself.

She spotted Alex leaning against his motorcycle, both sleek and dressed in black. As always, the sight of him made her heart pound and her palms sweat, and she had the sudden urge to hide because men like him do not like girls like her.

But still, there he was, looking dangerous and sexy and waiting for _her. _Black jeans, white t-shirt, black leather jacket. He looked up as she walked over, his eyes roaming up and down her body hungrily. She smirked to herself, furiously glad that she had worn that little black skirt after all.

He stood straight and put out the cigarette he had been smoking as she gave him a hug, breathing in the smell of smoke and cologne and motor oil. He backed out of the embrace first, trailing his hand down her arm to grab her hand.

He swung on to the motorcycle, helping her on behind him, and revved it into life, roaring off into the darkness.

They made their way downtown, Mel's arms around his middle as they flew. They began rolling to a stop and Mel lifted her head from his back, looking around.

"Um…where are we?"

He didn't answer; instead, he rose off the bike and jerked her off with a hand tight around her wrist.

"Wha…ow. Alex, don't be so rough."

He remained silent still, his grip tightening further as he yanked her along behind him into the alley he parked his bike in front of. She dug her heels in and tried to pull her arm away, but to no avail.

The alley was dark and abandoned as Alex pushed her against the wall, kissing her roughly. She melted into it, temporarily forgetting the pain in her wrist. She was so lost in the feel of his mouth against hers that she almost missed his hand snaking up her skirt.

She pulled her head away, her hands scrabbling against his. "Hey. No. No." he didn't budge and she pushed harder. "Alex, stop it."

He shot his free hand up and around her throat, smashing her back against the wall and making her ears ring with the impact.

"Shut up. You've been waiting for this. I mean, look at you. Why else would I be caught dead anywhere near you?" He pulled his hand from her skirt and ripped open her blouse, sending purple buttons flying. He groped her breast savagely through her bra, ignoring her protests.

Mel was panicking. She scrabbled to gain some semblance of balance as Alex mauled her, hoping to gain some footing so she could do…something, anything, to get herself out of here. His lips were biting her harshly through her bra as the hand that was punishing her breast trailed back down towards her skirt.

She braced her back against the brick all, hiking up her leg to knee him in the crotch. He let go of her and clutched at her crotch, allowing her to slip out from between him and the brick of the wall. She only got a foot or so away before she was being hauled backwards and knocked in the face a few times by a fist, sending her reeling.

"Bitch."

He reached for her again and she threw her hands up in a panic, freezing him in place.

She scrambled backward, raising a hand to her face and feeling the cut on her mouth from his punch. She forgoes probing the bump on her head from the wall and instead clutched at her blouse, holding the mangled fabric together as she watched the frozen in time Alex warily.

"Chris?" she called out into the night. "Chris! I know you're mad at me, but please. I need you." Her eyes welled up, and she backed away from Alex, wondering if her brother would come. She had been so mean to him, had said she hated him. But she had to try. "CHRIS! Chris, please. Please, please, please. Somebody help me."

She spun with a gasp as she heard the tell-tale tinkle that precedes orbing, bursting into tears at the sight of Chris.

"What the hell Melinda?" She gave a half-strangled sob, holding her arms tightly to her body as he took in their surroundings, her current state, and the frozen Alex behind her.

"Mellie?" He sounded strange, but she ignored it, running into his arms instead. They wrapped around her even as he became aware of what, exactly, had happened. "Oh, god. Mellie." She felt his arms tighten around her momentarily, and then start to release.

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fucking kill him!"

"No. NO! No, Chris, please. I just want to go home. Please just take me home?" Her brother's arms tightened around her again and he lifted her up bridal style, holding her close and kissing her forehead before orbing them home.

* * *

Piper sprinkled some oregano into the pan on the stove, stirring its contents and lowering the heat. She heard orbing behind her and figured it must be her younger son coming home from wherever he had orbed off to in such a hurry. She turned around.

"Chris, sweetie? Is everything okay? You left in such a hurr….oh my god." She dropped the spoon she was holding. "Mel? Baby?"

Her daughter was crying in the arms of her son, face buried in his shoulder as her body shook with sobs. It looked like her shirt had been torn open. Chris just shook his head, his own eyes brimming with tears. Her own eyes were filling up. He walked slowly past, trying not to jostle his little sister too much as he made his way to the stairs. Leo passed them in the doorway, staring after them as Chris carried Mel up.

"Piper, what…"

"I don't know," she answered. "And I'm not sure I want to."

"Her shirt—"

"Yeah. I saw."

* * *

Piper made her way up the stairs to her bed room, exhausted. She paused in the hall, momentarily surprised, though she wasn't quite sure why. Melinda's door was closed, and Chris was sitting in front of it, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Across from him, leaning on the opposite wall, sat Wyatt. Both of her sons were silent.

She watched as the door opened and they both jumped up, entering her room cautiously. She snuck down the hallway, holding her hand to her mouth. Her three children were curled around each other on Melinda's bed. Wyatt was creating a light show of orbs, just like he used to do for Melinda when she was little.

She backed out slowly and quietly, heading to bed. She'd grill Chris on what had happened, but tomorrow. For now, her children just needed each other.

* * *

Mel watched her brothers sleep around her protectively, one guarding her on each side. She ran a hand through Chris' hair.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you."


End file.
